Neoliberal Crisis Policy has Failed
by Sonja Forcher, August 2016
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2016/09/433256.shtml
The term “invisible hand of the market” goes back to Adam Smith. This assumes all economic activity promotes the common good.
The market is superior to the state. The state only has the task of removing all restrictions to access to the market and protecting economic freedoms and private property. In (neo-) liberal theory, an invisible hand and self-healing powers make the market a kind of miracle machine.
The financial markets provoked the crisis, not the state. These markets went completely off course after they were liberalized by neoliberals. Today the IMF puts in question the mantra that neoliberal reforms bring more growth. Instead, the neoliberal reforms brought massive inequalities that curb growth… Deeds must finally follow words.
The state could provide a basic social security and equal access to education or raise taxes to make possible equal starting conditions… To speak with Colin Crouch, neoliberalism’s survival is surprising because its theoretical assumptions are dubious. People cling to neoliberal prescriptions against all empirical reality.
